The Return of the Flowers
by Paenti
Summary: Deathly Hallows Spoilers! Gellert Grindelwald just wanted some fun the summer he stayed with his Great Aunt, what what he found was something much deeper. New relationships were forged, but will Gellert ever be the same? GELLERTxARIANA


**Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or any of the characters in this story, J. K. Rowling does.**

_AN: Well here it goes. I've thought about this fic for awhile now after reading the last book. I thought it would make a pretty good pairing, so I decided to give it a go. It's a work in progress, I'll update sooner or later. I'll probably edit stuff I already have too, so don't be surprised if it changes. I change my mind a lot about these things. This is really just a little preview, not officially chapter one. Please be patient, I have a soul consuming job._

_--_

Gellert sighed and pushed his chair back from the desk. He leaned back until the chair tilted on its back two legs while chewing on the end of his wand. Sparks flew out the ends, burning his tongue. Gellert swore loudly then pushed his golden hair out of his eyes. He leaned forward a bit and turned the page of _Secrets of the Darkest Arts_. Reaching over to the other side of the desk he grabbed his copy of _Deathly Hallows: Merely a Children's Story or More Than Meets the Eye? _He scanned the first few pages again, wondering if what Albus was talking about was really true. It interested him, there was no doubt. Who wouldn't want such power? The ability to wield all three at once would make one nearly invincible, such endless dominance over everyone else… well, with the exception of Albus of course. They would share the wealth. Maybe.

Odd smells were drifting up through the crack under the door. His Great Aunt was probably experimenting with another one of her exotic dishes. It didn't matter, he probably wouldn't eat tonight. It was always something disgusting, he wished that she didn't get rid of the maid. He rather liked the maid, perhaps a little too much. Pity. He set the book down and rubbed his eyes. He wished that his Great Aunt wouldn't chatter so much at dinner, droning on and on about what recent events had happened at the local shops, who said this who did that.

His mind drifted to last night's dinner, some sort of stew with bits of unrecognizable animal parts in it. He had sat there absentmindedly stirring his spoon in the ceramic bowl.

"And you know, that Kendra never was very good at cooking you know, she would always stop over for my recipes, really I was flattered, so I would always sit her down and we would just discuss different ideas. Well, you know it would always just turn into gossip about the days events you know, and I would fill her in on all the juiciest tidbits…"

Gellert leaned his chin onto is hand listening to the droning voice of his Great Aunt. Almost every single night since he had starting talking to Albus he was forced to listen to the Dumbledore's life stories at dinner. He just nodded politely, most of the time it wasn't worth listening to.

"… And that dear little daughter of hers, she was such a finicky eater it was terrible. Little Ariana, why she'd practically fling the plate across the room if she didn't like it. I remember one time-- "

"Wait, what?" Gellert looked up from what he suspected was a beak in his soup.

"Beg pardon Gellert dear?" Bathilda inquired politely.

"The Dumbledore's had a daughter?"

"Why, I can't believe I never mentioned little Ariana before. Are you sure? Of course they had a daughter, they still do!"

"But Albus didn't mention anything about a sister to me."

"I can't imagine he would," Bathilda gave a small dramatic sigh and continued, "Poor Albus, forced to be his sister's caretaker. Such a talented young man too…" She trailed off, peering at Gellert wondering if he'd take the bait for the gossip she so eagerly wanted to share.

"What? Caretaker? What do you mean?" Gellert set down his spoon and looked intently at his Aunt.

Bathilda smiled sadly, "Well the poor thing is what you would call, unstable."

"Unstable?"

"Oh I really don't know if I should be talking about this with you, it's really a family thing between the Dumbledore's."

Gellert stared at her, "What? You can't just start talking about something like this and then stop! It's-- it's unfair!"

"It's unfortunate really." Bathilda turned away, "She must be what, fourteen now? Too sick even to leave the house. I can't imagine it, with only Albus and Aberforth to talk to. Not that they're all that bad, but it'd certainly get boring."

"She's sick?"

"Oh my, there I go again, saying things I shouldn't. Really now Gellert, taking advantage of an old woman like me." Bathilda exclaimed with a mild look of shock, "Now finish your soup. And as I was saying, my greatest recipes Kendra was always after, in fact she happened to love…"

His Aunt's voice faded away and he leaned further back in his chair. What had she meant? Albus had a sister? Still has one? Why wouldn't he talk about her? Maybe whatever she's got is contagious, but then why would Albus be around her so much? Gellert had so many questions that he wanted to ask, bursting out of him. But it's not as if he could just go over there, knock on the door and say, "Why hello Albus, it seems you've been hiding a girl in your house and I hear she's your sister, care to explain?" Well, actually maybe he could.

It wasn't the fact that he had a sister, it was the fact that Albus would hide something this big from Gellert. What else wasn't he saying? Could he really trust him then, with their plans, with this Deathly Hallows thing , if it was real? He just didn't know anymore.

Gellert stood up and moved over to the window. He looked out the window over onto to low porch roof of the Dumbledore's house. There were some large shady tress blocking his view but he still had a pretty good view. His eyes traveled over their overgrown garden to the shed in the back when something caught his eye. It was Albus slowly walking out the backdoor of his house, the late afternoon light glaring off his shiny auburn hair. It looked as if he was leading someone outside. Gellert leaned closer to the window, staring down at the small backyard.

Albus came into full view along with a young girl. She looked maybe fifteen or fourteen, with a lighter version of Albus' sleek auburn locks. She was smiling and her eyes were a little unfocused as if she didn't really know what was going on but still enjoying it. They reached the edge of the garden and he let go, letting the girl wander off around the yard on her own.

This must be Ariana, Gellert thought to himself. He watched her slowly walk the perimeter of the yard then leaning down to look at some of the wildflowers that were growing in the garden. She looks a lot like Albus, he thought, but certainly a lot prettier. She picked a handful and ran over to her brother. She thrust her pale little arm into him, pushing the flowers to his chest. Albus smile and said something, Gellert couldn't hear them but was pretty sure it was something sweet. Ariana wandered back over to the garden, then slowly made her way to the shed. She stood under a large oak tree, touching the bark for a moment then did something unexpected. She turned her head and looked directly up into Gellert's window.

Gellert took a step back, how did she know he was watching them? He looked more closely out the window, it was probably coincidence. But then their eyes meet. It was startling, she had the same sparkling inquisitive bright blue eyes of her brothers. Ariana turned her head slightly as if studying him. Gellert didn't know what to do, he had never felt this scrutinized from such a distance before. He waved. And immediately regretted it. I feel stupid, he thought.

She didn't wave back, instead he saw her look at Albus, who looked up from a book he was reading. He looked worried. Albus walked over to where Ariana stood, and he seemed to ask her a question, she shook her head and smiled and shooed him away. She took one last look at Gellert and walked back to the garden to sit.

The next half hour was uneventful, Ariana picking flowers and Albus reading. Gellert went back to his books also. He was movement out of the corner of his eye. Albus got up, shut his book and walked over to Ariana. He motioned for her to get up to, and said something. Gellert wished he knew what they were saying. She stood and they both went inside.

That was weird, Gellert thought. Was she really sick? She looked fine. But then again she had to be constantly chaperoned. Or at least that was what it appeared.

"Gellert, dear!" Bathilda's voice echoed up the winding staircase, "Dinner!"

"Coming Auntie." Gellert sighed. He hoped he didn't get diarrhea tonight, he really wanted to study the books Albus had lent him.

--

"Gellert! I'm so glad you could make it!" Albus cheerfully greeted his neighbor, and lead him inside the house, "Come in, come in! I'm surprised you're here in one piece, we could smell what your Aunt Bathilda was cooking from over here."

"Yeah, me too," Gellert grimaced as he thought about last nights escapade, "Anyway Albus, I was looking through the book you gave me a couple days ago. I finished most of it, but there were some thing s in there that I wanted to talk with you about."

"Oh yeah, that." Albus face darkened a bit. He had a more serious tone.

"Yes, that. Actually it was about the chapter on the wand… I was pretty sure that I had read something about that somewhere else but I just can't remember where. Now I think it was a couple years ago at Durmstrang, I overheard one of my professors talking about a wizard that had been murdered recently in his home during what appeared to be a robbery, but nothing was taken. At least not from his house, but they took the wand."

"Well of course you've heard of it, just probably not by it's original name. It has many names. And why would you need to steal anything else if you had the Elder Wand?"

"You wouldn't."

"Exactly. I'm glad you're so interested in the wand because I've been doing a little research lately, " Albus walked over to a desk in the corner of the study and pulled out a thick folder overflowing with papers, a few floated to the floor,.

"A little?" Gellert questioned.

"Yes, a little. You should see my other folders." Albus said grinning, "Now look at this, I think I've mapped a trail of the previous owners of the wand. It's very um, all over the place, you see I think that they--"

Albus was cut short, there was a loud knock on the front door. He bit his lip then closed the folder and slid it over to Gellert.

"Take care of this for me, hide it." Albus whispered.

Gellert scrambled to his feet with the folder and hurried over to a drawer in the desk while Albus strode over to the front door. He turned the know on the door just as Gellert was turning the key to the drawer.

"Albus!" A voice gasped out. A tall young man with untidy black hair was leaning in the doorway of the house.

"Baldric Potter, what are you doing here? What's going on?" Albus inquired.

"It's Aberforth, he's gotten in another fight."

"Again?" Albus sighed and looked over at Gellert, "And why in the world did you come all this way to tell me?"

"Because this time it's with a muggle, and they're wanting to get their muggle constables involved! We need you to help sort this out!" Baldric cried, grasping Albus' hand, "Your brother could go to jail, muggle jail!"

Albus shook his head, "Maybe he should, do him some good. Build character or something. He needs to control his temper." He glanced over at Gellert, "Well, I guess I'll come. But this is the last time I sort out a mess where my brother is in trouble for being an idiot."

Gellert stood up and moved towards the door, "Oh no." Albus said, Gellert stopped.

"You can stay here, I shouldn't be long. You can look over those documents I gave you." Albus nodded to Baldric, and shut the door as he walked out.

Gellert walked back over to the desk where he had put the folder containing the information on the Elder Wand. But he stopped about a foot away as he realized something. He was alone in the Dumbledore house. He lifted his head as if to make sure Albus wasn't going to burst back through the door and catch him snooping around. Something in the back of his mind was nagging him. He wasn't alone, he realized. Ariana was here.

Gellert carefully walked out into the hallway, treading lightly hoping not to make any sounds. He realized now that he had never actually seen much of the Dumbledore house. Just the front study, parlor, and occasionally the bathroom. It was exciting to be just wandering around his friend's house. What kind of things would a powerful wizard like Albus have lying around? Probably not much, he wasn't stupid. He crept down the hallway, but paused. There were rows of photographs lining the wall. His eyes settled on one in particular It was the three children of the Dumbledore family, Albus standing in the back a small smile playing on his lips, Aberforth standing next to him trying not to scowl, and sitting quietly in a chair with her hands folded was Ariana. She had her head down, but then raised it to look directly into his eyes. It was chilling, even the photograph of her knew he was watching.

"I'm just curious!" He explained to the picture hanging on the wall.

"Are you now?" A girls voice floated into the hallway from a couple feet away.

--


End file.
